This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
Three days of solo walking in the region, carried by the tranquility and welcoming nature.
Kingscroft Road, south of Hatley. The instructions in the walker’s log are clear: after the wayside cross and the small, white wooden Saint-Wilfrid church, turn right onto Corey Road, a peaceful row, to start three days of solo walking. The Valley Pilgrims’ Way is a pilgrimage created in 2018 by a few lovers of walking and their region. This loop, a link between 12 municipalities, can be completed in 12 days, in the heart of the Coaticook Valley. You have to look for the yellow and green marker, not always visible, to reach Coaticook, 20 km further. But, thanks to the precise instructions in the pilgrim’s log, you know you’re on the right track.
There, we savor everything that makes up the surrounding rural atmosphere: fields of corn and soybeans on either side of the path, tart farm aromas, grain silos that rise like the towers of a pastoral cathedral.
Coaticook’s backyard
“Take the Girouard path, leave the Labbé path,” dictates the itinerary in the notebook; we follow it like obedient pilgrims, letting our diffuse thoughts—and our regular steps—take the reins of our stroll. In the distance, our gaze falls on the hilly horizon where the line of Mount Orford and Mount Jay Peak stands out, while a few languid cows cast a phlegmatic gaze from their pasture.
On either side of the path, armfuls of wild flowers bloom in their autumnal hues: gold, mauve, garnet. If you listen carefully, any attentive walker will perceive the sounds of nature, amplified by their solitude: the bellowing of cows, the barking of dogs, the nasal and persistent cry of crows in flight above the harvested wheat fields.
A few hours later, we are on the Main, approaching Coaticook, the capital of the MRC, which stands out with its red brick buildings, such as the famous Vieille-Poste with its imposing bronze roof. Or like the Norton castle, built in 1912 and converted into the Beaulne museum, a must-see on the Chemin des Cantons, the heritage route of the Eastern Townships.
The hazards of the road
To reach Compton, heading north, you have to take Child Street, which borders the Coaticook Gorge and its striking canyon overlooked by the famous suspended footbridge. Very quickly, you once again enter the peaceful rows bordered by the quilt of fields and pastures.
As the walker slowly approaches a farm, a dog sometimes makes it known that he is not welcome by barking loudly. As is often the case in the countryside, the mastiff is not kept on a leash; it is therefore advisable to continue on your way, without changing your pace and addressing a few words to him in a reassuring tone… while keeping your walking stick firmly in your hand.
Other disruptive elements sometimes occur on the rocky roads. While the few local motorists are extra careful and slow down as the pilgrim approaches, the situation is quite different upon arrival in Compton. You then have no choice but to take Route 208 East towards the town hall and walk on the shoulder a short distance from the string of hurried and deafening cars. It is there that you take the full measure of your own slowness and the discrepancy there is in moving at the pace of steps in an environment made for speed.
History on the way
The next day, the goal is to reach Waterville, about 12 km further, whose “city center” is reduced to a crossroads flanked by a convenience store and a providential bench. It is the ideal place to stop to munch on some food and change your socks.
On this third day, the weight of the backpack no longer weighs anything, as it is now part of the moving body. Past Rue Principale, heading north, two successive cemeteries face each other (Assomption and Greenwood) on both sides of the road, reflecting the biculturalism — and the two faiths — that mark the local community. After Chemin Carrier, we turn right onto Chemin McVety, one of the most beautiful sections of the Pilgrims’ Way, to complete the 8 km of the day.
Under a stormy sky, the trail crosses the township of Ascot and the former hamlet of Milby, marked by the arrival of loyalist immigrants, originally from the State of New York, who came to settle there in the 18th century.e century. Today, the Hyatt Schoolhouse, built in 1810 and recognized as a national historic site, the Anglican Church of St. Barnabas, erected in 1874, and the Milby Cemetery, dotted with old headstones and mossy funerary monuments, remain. It is at the small covered bridge of Milby, built over the Moe River in 1873, that these three days of pilgrimage end. There, we promise ourselves for sure to do other sections one day.
Where to sleep and where to get supplies?
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